‘There’s a Threat Far Worse Than Islamic Terror’ Warns General

General Mark Carleton-Smith. (Wikimedia Commons)

A British general is warning his country and the West about Russia—a threat he calls “indisputably” worse than anything posed by ISIS or al-Qaeda, the BBC reports. General Mark Carleton-Smith tells the Telegraph:

“The Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it. Russia today indisputably represents a far greater threat to our national security than Islamic extremist threats such as al-Qaeda and [ISIS].”

Carleton-Smith, who led Britain’s fight against ISIS and in June became head of the British army, says military action has weakened Islamic militants. But in the wake of alleged poisoning and cyber-attacks, Russia looms large.

“Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilities, particularly in some of the non-traditional areas of cyber, space, undersea warfare,” he says.

He opposes, however, any notion (perhaps like French President Emmanuel Macron’s) that would weaken the military strength of NATO. He says the “center of gravity of European security” should hold fast.

“In my experience, we should reinforce success. We cannot influence the British government’s decisions as to whom they trust to head its armed forces. I hope they check the appropriateness of such decisions.”

The Trump administration has dismissed the general’s remarks, which should surprise exactly no one.

6 Responses to ‘There’s a Threat Far Worse Than Islamic Terror’ Warns General

The USSR/Russia has been the greatest threat to western democracies all of my life. After the break up of the Soviet Empire, nothing changed for Russia. The Commisars became capitalists, the corruption continued. Putin is rubbing his hands with excitement as he witnesses the certain collapse of the EU. When the UK leaves, other naive nations will follow. Putin is looking west, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia should be nervous, he wants his countries back.

When this mess started there were so many people that kept saying that there was nothing to this “Russia Mess”. I talked to a few of my former students and a couple of guys I knew from back in the old days. I could not tell them what I knew then just as I can’t say exactly what I know to be true now. But, I do know that Russia was involved in the election process and has been since 2010. It is strongly suspected that they had been probing even before then by a number of people. I fault President Obama for no taking stronger action than he did sooner. A friend of mine that hangs his hat in the nation’s capitol used to say that when a Russian reached out to shake your hand you should pay attention to the other hand because it probably has a knife in it to stab you in the back. There is no such thing as a Russian friend to an American.